Rumor

One of the big question’s in Hollywood these days is: What is JJ Abrams next project as a director? Now a new report from New York Magazine’s Vulture Blog says they have the answer, which is that JJ is planning on directing an homage to the Steven Spielberg movies of the 70’s and 80’s, in collaboration with Spielberg.

There is a new rumor sweeping across the Interweb this weekend, and it is yet another Chris Pine casting thing. Since the actor hit the big time after his performance as James T. Kirk in 2009’s Star Trek, Pine’s name seems to get attached to every big new project in Hollywood. This time the rumor is that he will be the new Captain America, however comments from the film’s director cast some doubt on this one.

Earlier in the week Star Trek’s new Spock made it clear that although he is coming back for the next Trek, he wants to branch out into non genre work. And according to a new report, one of those projects may be starring in a Steven Spielberg-directed biopic about famed composer George Gershwin. More details below

Now that the cycle is complete and Star Trek is on home video, it is appears it is time for the next cycle start up in earnest. In the last day their have been rumors running around the interweb that the Star Trek team are not only focusing on Khan for the sequel, but they are already settling on a specific actor, Nestor Carbonell. However, TrekMovie’s sources say it just isn’t so.

Less than 2 days after it was announced that Paramount is moving forward on development of a sequel to the new Star Trek, and already the rumors are starting. And leave it to a British Tabloid to bring back granddaddy subject of all Star Trek rumors, William Shatner. As usual TrekMovie sifts through to find the truth.

Back in April Paramount Home Entertainment announced their first titles on the Blu-ray high definition format, but to date they have not announced any titles from their Star Trek library. However friend of the site and periodic contributor Bill Hunt of the Digital Bits is now reporting that ‘sources say’ Star Trek is headed for Blu-ray in 2009.

Is Patrick Stewart (TNG’s Captain Picard) about the trade in the Enterprise for the Tardis? According to a report in the Brit tabloid The Daily Star, the actor has been offered a recurring role on Doctor Who, the hit British Sci Fi series. This report is not confirmed, but Stewart is currently appearing with Doctor Who star David Tennant in Hamlet.

JJ Abrams and his team aren’t bringing any footage of their new Star Trek movie to Comic Con, but Aint it Cool News reposts that one of their ‘spies’ has seen about a minute of the film and describes an elaborate space battle scene. [possible spoilers below]. UPDATE: Description denied by TrekMovie sources

A possible description of the next trailer for JJ Abrams Star Trek has shown up online. According to CinemaBlend it was sent in by a reader so they have not verified it. UPDATE: TrekMovie has confirmed the description IS NOT for the next Star Trek trailer.

It is easy to lose count on the “Tom Cruise will be in Star Trek” rumors, but they are back again. On Thursday MSNBC reported Tom Cruise visited the set of Star Trek (something we reported in January). Even though the article noted it was “just a social call” the headline “Tom Cruise joining ‘Star Trek’ cast?” was very misleading (they also refered to Nimoy as ‘Dr. Spock’…geez).

There is a new rumor being floated by iPhone Savior (and picked up by TrekWeb) that the communicator props being used by the crew of the USS Enterprise in the new Star Trek movie are based on “a slickly modified version” of Apple’s iPhone. TrekMovie.com has checked with multiple sources and has confirmed this is rumor is entirely untrue.

Last fall TrekMovie.com debunked a rumor that George Takei will be in the new Star Trek, but apparently you can’t keep a good rumor down. Today The Howard 100 News on Sirius ran an interview with Takei where he was asked number of questions on various topics which he did not answer because he felt they were based on “privileged conversations.” One of these topics was Takei’s meeting with director JJ Abrams. This sparked AICN to run a story “Is George Takei In J.J. Abrams’ STAR TREK Movie??” Of course this has sparked numerous “Takei in Talks” stories on other sites (examples: here, here, here). TrekMovie.com has talked to sources and Mr. Takei himself to get to the truth.

This morning Aint It Cool News posted an article containing what they claim is a review of the script for Star Trek as well as a description of some of the footage from the film. The script review part seems mostly negative, but the footage review seems mostly positive and apparently they are from different sources. However, Star Trek co-writer Roberto Orci questions whether they have actually seen the script. More below (spoilers)

AICN got the net buzzing today by linking to this image with the suggestion that it may be a leaked design for the Enterprise in the new Star Trek. …but CGI artist Gabriel Koerner has confirmed this is actually one of his designs.

UPDATED. Although J.J. Abrams has confirmed that House’s Jennifer Morrison is in Star Trek, he didn’t confirm her part beyond saying it is not Yeoman Rand. Speculation has focused on a number of known Trek characters, such as Carol Marcus, Kirk’s mother and ‘Number One.’ Now there are two competing rumors ‘confirming’ who she will playing. SyFy Portal is reporting a rumor that Morrison will play “Number One,” the first officer to Captain Pike (played by Bruce Greenwood). While IESB is reporting that Morrison will play a ‘pregnant’ Winona Kirk opposite Chris Hemsworth’s George Kirk Sr.

Yesterday there was a lot of guessing that an actress spotted in the JFX Online Spy Photos was Jennifer Morrison from the TV series House. Today IESB.net confirmed with Morrison’s manager that the actress has an unnamed part in the new Star Trek. Morrison spotted yesterday (left) and in a publicity still for House (right)

Does Star Trek have its second female cast member? FreezeDriedMovies is reporting that a source ‘overheard’ that Rachel Nichols has been cast for an unnamed part in film. Although it cannot be confirmed yet, it would not be a surprise as the 27 year-old actress has worked with Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman before as a recurring character on Alias. So far the only woman in the cast is Zoe Saldana (Uhura). In addition to mothers for Kirk and Spock we know there is at least one other female role (the one that Felicity star Keri Russell was talking to director JJ Abrams about). Nichols age would make her a reasonable fit for ‘Number One’ (Pike’s XO), Nurse Chapel, or a love interest for Kirk (Carol Marcus?).

One of last bits of major casting the new Star Trek films need to do is for Chris Pike, Spock’s captain on the Enterprise before Kirk. We know that they are looking for a well known name and now IESB is throwing one into the ring. According to their source the studio is ‘considering’ Josh Lucas (Poseidon, Glory Road) for the role originally played by Jeffrey Hunter. This cannot be confirmed at this time by TrekMovie.com. However, Lucas’ name was once heard in relation to the role of Kirk, but it couldn’t be confirmed and at 36 he seemed too old for that part. He would be in the right age range for Pike. Lucas just recently finished shooting one project and is attached to three other films, including one that will possibly overlap with the Trek shooting schedule (something the Trek producers have dealt with for other actors). (More on Lucas @ IMDB, Wikipedia)

There are a few new Star Trek movie rumors floating around the interweb this week. The first one is in regards to William Shatner. In the talkback section for their article on Chris Pine as Kirk, AICN editor ‘Hercules’ made the comment “All publicity about Shatner not playing Old Kirk in the movie is lie.” Some have taken this to be confirmation that Shatner will indeed be in the film, however I am sure AICN would agree that if they were reporting that they would have made a special article about it. According to TrekMovie.com sources there is no final decision on Shatner either way. So Hercules is correct that it is a ‘lie’ to say Shatner definitely will not be in the film, but it would also be a lie to say that he definitely will be in the film.

This seems to be a week for Star Trek casting rumors and news. TrekMovie.com has confirmed that Karl Urban (Eomer of Lord of the Rings) is being considered for an unnamed role in the new Star Trek movie. IESB.net is reporting the Kiwi actor has been made an offer to play the villain in the film, but a source close to the production tells TrekMovie.com that Urban is not up for the film’s villain (nor is he being considered for Kirk). The source would not go further when pressed, but based on the Actor’s age (35) either Scotty, Bones may be a good guess (or possibly Captain Garrovick?). Regarding the casting of the villain a studio insider recently told TrekMovie.com that they are looking for well known brand name actor (especially one who will help the film play in foreign markets). This fits with the report that there is interest in Russell Crowe for the part.

A new name is now linked to be in the running for Kirk. IESB.net reports that 28-year-old actor Mike Vogel (Poseidon) is " the front runner" to take on the role of James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams new Star Trek film. IESB cites ‘two studio insiders,’ but acknowledge no confirmation. TrekMovie.com cannot confirm or deny anything except that has no Kirk deal has been done. Sources have recently told TrekMovie.com that Abrams and his casting team have found the task of picking a new Kirk quite challenging. Vogel does have a connection to the Trek team as one of the stars of next January’s untitled monster movie (aka ‘Cloverfield’, aka ‘1-18-08’) being produced by J.J. Abrams and fellow Trek producer Bryan Burk.

Last March there was a rumor going around that J.J. Abrams was thinking about Jennifer Garner for a role as Spock’s love interest in his new Star Trek movie. Now the "Alias" leading lady tells Rotten Tomatoes that she ‘absolutely’ willing to put on Vulcan ears for Trek, saying "Anything J.J. asked me to do ever, that’s a clear ‘Don’t even worry, the answer’s yes.’ I owe him." Abrams is known to like to stick with people he knows so it isn’t a crazy idea (although he may have a hard time choosing between Garner and his Felicity star Keri Russell who Abrams thinks would make a great Klingon). In addition to being ready for Trek Garner said she would also be up any J.J. Abrams Alias movie, noting "I think we’d all sign on. I mean, it’s all in his crazy brain." Garner has been keeping in practice. She stars along with Jamie Foxx as an FBI agent (pictured) in the thriller "The Kingdom" opening later this month.

[possible spoilers] AICN has posted an article on plot rumors for the new Star Trek film that posits much of the film takes place in an alternative timeline (possibly as a way to avoid canon violations). AICN’s Moriarty (apparently based on a dinner chat with someone at Paramount) describes the film involving Romulans going back in time to kill James T. Kirk and change history with older Spock (Nimoy) doing what he can to fix the timeline. However, it is a little hard to separate what are possible plot rumors from and what is Moriarty’s own speculation. Beyond the notion that the older Spock character is central to the film’s plot, TrekMovie.com cannot confirm (or refute) any of the details at this time.

At the 3:10 to Yuma junket IGN had a chance to ask Russell Crowe about the ‘Paramount want Crowe to be the Star Trek villain’ story they first reported a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to be the first time Crowe had heard about it (although co-star co-star Christian ‘Batman’ Bale had some fun with it)..see video

And now for something not completely different. Last week’s Tom Cruise as Pike and Russell Crowe as a villain Star Trek rumors rippled across the world and are now rippling back from British tabloids. This past week, the Daily Star ran a story claiming that Tom Cruise had actually ‘signed on’ to make a cameo as Captain Pike in the new film, even though that very same rumor was denied a week earlier. According to the tabloid’s supposed ‘source,’ “Star Trek was the start of the huge sci-fi craze and Tom is fascinated by all of it.” More recently, it appears that the Daily Express has received word from yet another ‘insider’ that Crowe “is definitely considering [director/producer] J.J. Abrams’ offer.” The insider also claims that Crowe “was always a ‘Star Trek’ fan as a kid, which is a big bonus.” Of course once the rumors got upgraded by the Brit tabloids they then got picked up by other news outlets (examples: here, here, and here).

Multiple reports (including TrekMovie.com’s sources) have indicated that Paramount and the Star Trek film makers want to balance the lesser-known actors of the main cast with some big name stars. They are determined to have the new Star Trek appeal to a much wider audience than previous Trek films and well known stars are part of that plan. The likely spots for the big names would be for Captain/Fleet Captain Pike and for the villain. IGN recently hinted they had heard about interest in a very big name for the villain and now they have revealed that name to be none other than Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe. However, they also noted this was only interest and that their source ‘seriously doubted’ that Paramount and Abrams could convince the busy star to make time available from his other big film projects. Although it is likely that Crowe will not be the one, it is an indication of the caliber and star power they are looking for.

Another Star Trek movie rumor that seems hard to kill is the Matt Damon as Kirk rumor. A few readers have sent in links to a long MSN Movies article on Matt Damon that had a paragraph about him playing Kirk, starting off with the line "After "The Bourne Ultimatum," Damon has agreed to play Captain James Kirk." Although some thought this was confirmation it was actually just a bit of rumor inertia working its way into the article. In the last couple of days MSN has updated the article and the paragraph on him playing Kirk is now gone. Damon recently denied the rumor and now in a new interview with the Australian AP he repeats he is too old to play Kirk, saying…